Baltimore, Philly’s transit ridership dropped the least, SF the most, according to this app
A look at ridership data from April 7, 2020, shows Baltimore and Philadelphia's ridership dropped the least during this period. Image by Transit app. used with permission.
It’s no secret that the coronavirus pandemic has taken its toll on public transit as shelter-in-place orders, social distancing measures, and the closure of “nonessential” businesses have sent farebox revenues and ridership numbers plummeting across the region and indeed the world.
But a new set of data released by the aptly named transportation app Transit provides some surprising insights into just which cities have been affected the most by the coronavirus shutdown.
First, a couple of caveats. These are not official ridership statistics per se, which can only be released by individual transit agencies themselves. Rather, as Transit’s app developers themselves point out, the chart below measures demand for public transit based on how many times the app is opened within each metro area, comparing that number with how many times the app was opened on that same date last year, and then averaging that last number together with the amount of ride opens from exactly one week before and exactly one week after.
Second, this chart is obviously not fully representative of all the largest transit systems in the country.
Chicago, Los Angeles, and Denver are all missing from the chart above, to name just three cities with transit systems larger than the smallest city shown here, Baltimore.
This is largely a one-day snapshot comparing ridership in seven cities on April 7, 2020 with ridership in those same cities on April 7, 2019 (Averaged together with March 31, 2019 and April 14, 2019).
Nevertheless, the chart provides a fascinating look at just how much transit ridership has declined across some of the country’s largest networks as the COVID-19 pandemic has escalated, how different cities in different areas have adapted to social distancing, and just how much so many of the “essential workers” on the “frontlines” across the country still rely on public transit to get where they need to go.
You can compare ridership estimates for these seven cities and 92 other metro areas across the world on every date from February 15 all the way to today at https://transitapp.com/coronavirus.
Which differences stand out the most to you here?